SPORTSBIZ -- KEVIN KLEPS

The 'Miami Cavaliers' are sweating out their series with the Pacers

Blog Entry: June 03, 2013 11:53 AM | Author: KEVIN KLEPS

At this time last year, we had our first heated round of the “Is It Time To Break Up The Big Three?” debate.

The Miami Heat, facing elimination in Game 6 of the 2012 Eastern Conference finals, won, 98-79, in Boston. That night, LeBron James was everything Cavs fans had wanted him to be in 2010 against the Celtics — a Michael Jordan-like assassin.

The Heat won six of their last seven games that postseason, James claimed his first NBA championship — and shed his reputation of playing passively in big moments.

The Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh seemed better than ever this season, winning 66 games in the regular season, including 27 in a row. Prior to a Game 1 loss to the Bulls in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Miami had lost twice in a span of 43 games.

Then, as if David Stern had demanded that there be some drama in his postseason, the Indiana Pacers — who ranked 23rd in the offense-first NBA in points per game (Indy scored 1.8 fewer points per contest than the 58-loss Cavs) and 26th in field-goal percentage in the regular season — emerged as the next bruisers who could break up the Big Three.

This version of the mania that follows James is even more fascinating than the discussion during the 2012 playoffs.

Sure, James almost single-handedly kept Miami alive last year against Boston, racking up 45 points, 15 rebounds and five assists in Game 6 (Wade and Bosh combined for 24 points in that contest), but check out Miami's 2012 postseason statistics.

James was fantastic, but he had a heck of a sidekick in Wade, who averaged 22.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks in the playoffs.

This postseason, Wade has been bothered by a bone bruise in his right knee and Bosh has a sore ankle.

The result has been a plethora of “Miami Cavaliers” references, thanks to James being forced to return to his ball-dominating ways.

James is averaging 25.8 points on 51.7% shooting in the postseason.

With his injury robbing him of his explosiveness, Wade, who no longer seems to have any faith in his jump shot, is averaging 13.6 points on 12.3 shots in the playoffs.

Bosh has norms of 12.5 points and 9.9 shots — down from 16.6 and 12.3 in the regular season.

Wade's comments following Miami's loss at Indiana in Game 6 of the East finals were riveting.

Two of the most intriguing:

“We've got to do a good job of making sure me and Chris have opportunities to succeed throughout the game. That's something we're going to have to look at as a team.”

“We've got guys individually who want to play better. But we've got to try to help each other out in this locker room and not leave it up to the individual to self-will it.”

Maybe “the individual” was a general reference by Wade — as in, “If we all play better, no individual player will feel the need to have to do too much.”

Or maybe “the individual” is James — reverting back to his days with the Cavaliers.

The 2010 Cavs actually had two players other than James with postseason scoring averages better than the current norms by Wade and Bosh. Antawn Jamison averaged 15.3 points on 12.5 shots per contest, and Mo Williams scored 14.4 points on 11.5 shots per game, though he struggled mightily from the field (40.9% on field goals and 32.7% on 3-pointers).

The Heat's playoff scoring norms actually more closely resemble the 2007-08 (that year, James averaged 28.2 points in the playoffs, compared to 13.1 by Zydrunas Ilgauskas and 10.8 by and Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak) and 2006-07 Cavaliers (James' 25.1 points per game in the playoffs were just a tad ahead of the 12.6 average of Ilgauskas and the 11.4 and 11.3 norms of Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes, respectively).

So how will it go tonight in Game 7 against Indiana?

Will we witness the James from Game 6 in Boston in 2012?

Will LeBron get any help from Wade and Bosh?

One outcome I doubt we will see is the James from 2010, the one who already seemed to have his decision made and his bags packed for South Beach.

That version of James doesn't seem to exist anymore. It's as if winning his first championship freed him from any hesitations he might have had.

He's Michael Jordan, only if Jordan was built like a linebacker and had the vision of Magic Johnson.

One thing that's certain is, win or lose, it will be all about LeBron.

If the Heat win, he'll the one who carried a hobbling Wade and a trembling Bosh back to the NBA Finals.

If they lose, Round 2 of the break-up-the-Big-Three discussion will commence.

Pat Riley knows the Pacers, Bulls and Grizzlies have the inside presences to give his small-ball team fits for years to come.

Unlike Danny Ferry, the guess here is Riley will act before it's too late and a frustrated James exits.

Bosh could be traded, and more mania would ensue.

It will be captivating to watch, and the possibilities of what could ensue in the summer of 2014 adds more craziness than the addition of Joey Crawford to an officiating crew or Nia Moore to a reality television cast.

A makeup date — for the fans

The Indians have yet to announce what they will do for the fans who purchased tickets to Friday's game against the Rays that ended at 2:53 a.m., after almost five hours of rain delays.

The important part is the Tribe says it will announce soon what perks the fans might receive, since the majority of the crowd of 30,000-plus for the 9-2 loss to Tampa Bay only saw an inning or two of action.

The Indians' rationale for waiting it out Friday — the shaky weekend forecast, plus the fact that this weekend marked Tampa's only visit to Cleveland, and the teams had no other viable, mutual off days for a makeup game — make sense.

The Indians also released a statement over the weekend apologizing to the fans, which, combined with Shapiro's tweets, almost immediately nixed any potential outcry.

Other organizations should take note.

Another Emmy for the Cavaliers

Congrats to the Cavs' in-house production team, QTV, which won an Emmy for its in-game video open.

The Cavs also won Emmys in the category — Best Promotion of Program Sports — in 2010 and 2011.

If you're keeping score at home, Machine Gun Kelly, in the past two weeks, has been part of an Emmy-winning production, the Cavs winning the draft lottery and Grantland.com making fun of his inability to tie a tie.

You can follow me on Twitter for sports information, analysis and more memories from Wally Szczerbiak's tenure with the Cavs.

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